


this impossible year

by subwaytonowhere



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 17:45:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17248649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subwaytonowhere/pseuds/subwaytonowhere
Summary: Jughead doesn’t want to be at the party. But he promised Veronica that he would come, and Jughead Jones is not the kind of man that breaks promises.Or: Jughead goes to Veronica's New Year's party, where he's trying to avoid Archie. But no one will rest until Jughead finally talks to Archie.





	this impossible year

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Years! After I posted last night I got the inspiration for this so I ran with it. Wish I could always pump out fics this fast lol. 
> 
> Title comes from "Impossible Year" by Panic! At the Disco. That's my song that describes this year pretty much lol. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the fic.

Jughead doesn’t want to be at the party. But he promised Veronica that he would come, and Jughead Jones is not the kind of man that breaks promises. 

When Jughead walks into La Bonne Nuit, he’s swept up into the beauty of the place. The place, of course, looks immaculate already: red velvet tablecloths, dim lighting, wood floors, arched ceilings.  Veronica is going around and decorating too. She’s dressed for the party already, wearing a beautiful sparkling gold dress.

“Jughead!” Veronica says, a smile spreading across her lips. Jughead returns her smile. She runs over, throwing her arms around Jughead. Veronica’s not normally much of a hugger. Of course, neither is Jughead. But she’s in an especially good mood tonight.

“Hi,” Jughead says awkwardly. It’s been a weird spot. A few months ago, Archie and Veronica broke up. Jughead was a witness to that event, and even though he was just a bystander, he still sometimes sees that scene play out again in his nightmares. Even now, looking at Veronica, dressed to the nines, a sugar-sweet smile on her face, he can still hear her in the back of his mind, yelling  _ I CAN’T BE WITH SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T WANT TO HELP HIMSELF _ at the top of her lungs. “How can I make myself useful?”

Jughead figures that the least he can do is help set up. Maybe if he helps with the set-up, he can weasel Veronica into letting him go home early. 

“Decorations,” Veronica says. She grabs Jughead’s arm and marches him over to where she’s got all sorts of different streamers and bows and centerpieces. She lays out her plan for the room, puts Jughead on streamer duty along with Reggie, and then leaves him be. 

“You ready for tonight?” Reggie asks as they tackle one of the walls. “It’s going to be sick.”

“Hoping I can duck out a little early, actually,” Jughead says.

“Why, you got plans?” Reggie says. 

No. Jughead doesn’t. He might get to watch the ball drop on TV with his old man. But even that’s not set in stone. 

“Yeah,” Jughead says, but the lie isn’t convincing. 

“Veronica’s not going to let you leave,” Reggie says.

“I know,” Jughead says. 

“Something you want to talk about?” Reggie asks.

“No,” Jughead says, emphasizing the word as much as he can. “I don’t. Even if I did, we’re not even friends. Why would I talk to you?”

“Alright then,” Reggie says, his voice lilting. God damn it. Reggie’s got him.

“I’m scared to see Betty,” Jughead says.

Except he’s not, and that fact becomes apparent a few minutes later, when he hears footsteps coming down the stairs. He looks over just as Archie makes it down to the bottom step. He’s wearing a suit, with a red jacket. White shirt. Black bow tie. He looks stunning. He always does. They make eye contact from across the room. Jughead quickly turns, throwing himself back into helping Reggie with the streamers.

Jughead is not afraid of seeing Betty. He’s afraid of seeing Archie.

* * *

It probably shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

It was the night of the horrific break-up. Archie had spent an entire summer living on borrowed time. There was the trial. There was the exoneration. There was the fact that even though Archie had done nothing wrong, he still felt like he deserved to be punished. Secretly, everyone was a little fed up with it. Even Jughead, who had been secretly in love with Archie for a while now. Since before Jason Blossom’s murder. It’d been a couple of months since the trial, and Archie just wouldn’t let it go.

Jughead did not blame Veronica for snapping the way she did. But boy, did it hurt to watch. She ripped right into him, telling him that she couldn’t date someone who couldn’t help himself. And she was gone like that.

Archie left too. All Jughead wanted was to go to Archie, to hold him, to ask if he was okay. But he knew that Archie could use some space. So he hung out with the Serpents. Did whatever he could to try to take his mind off of what he had just witnessed. 

Later that night, he was in his room. He should have been sleeping, but instead, he was writing, working on his novel. His novel probably would have to become three novels at this point, so much had happened. That’s when the text came:

<Hey, can you come over?> Archie had written.

<Of course> Jughead wrote. 

FP was already asleep, and god, it was too easy to sneak out. In Jughead’s mind, it seemed so simple. Archie needed him. And by God, he was going to be there. 

Jughead climbed up into Archie’s room and in through his window. There were tissues everywhere, and Archie’s eyes were red. Jughead’s heart immediately sunk, realizing now that Archie had been crying.

“Arch,” Jughead had said.

Archie looked up at him, his brown eyes shining with tears.

Jughead scrambled in through the window, sitting next to Archie on his bed. He put his arm around Archie and Archie talked. He explained that he knew that he was being ridiculous, but he’d done so many bad things. It just seemed right that he was punished. Especially after everything the trial had put him, his friends, and his family through.

“Why do you think we fought so hard for you?” Jughead asked.

“I don’t know,” Archie said, staring at a shirt that he’d left on his bedroom floor.

“Because we love you. We weren’t upset about what that whole mess was doing to us. We were just trying to help you. It’s still robbing you of everything.”

Archie looked at him. Jughead didn’t know why he did it, but he quickly found himself leaning in. Archie didn’t flinch whatsoever.

He pressed his lips to Archie’s, and to his surprise, Archie kissed back. Jughead finally pulled away, but Archie grabbed him and kissed him again.

It was somewhere around their third or fourth kiss that the bedroom door swung open. They broke apart to see Fred Andrews standing in the doorway, speechless.

“I shouldn’t have done this,” Jughead said quickly. 

“Jug—” Archie said.

But it was too late. Jughead was standing up. He couldn’t go back out the window. Fred would know how Archie sneaks in and out. Instead, he walked out Archie’s bedroom door, pushing Fred out of the way.

“Jughead!” he heard Fred say, but he was already halfway down the stairs. He left without another thought. 

But as he walked home, he started to cry, because he’d broken his best friend’s heart a second time.

* * *

Jughead hasn’t talked to Archie since.

It’s not like Archie hasn’t tried. He’s called, texted. But Jughead doesn’t know what to say to him.

The second that Veronica invited him, he knew she had ulterior motives. He knows that Betty probably told her everything. Maybe Archie’s talked to her too. He knows they’ve become friends again, but maybe he hasn’t said anything. Would it make it better if he had? Or worse? Jughead’s not sure. 

But now, Jughead is here, and so is Archie, and Jughead just keeps decorating because he’s not ready. He knows that he’s not going to be able to avoid Archie all night. But he can at least avoid him for right now. 

“Your pal Andrews is here,” Reggie says.

“I know,” Jughead says with a sigh. 

“I can keep going if you want to say hi to him.”

“No. Let’s just keep working. We’re almost done,” Jughead says. 

God, who doesn’t know?

* * *

The decorating gets done maybe about an hour before the party starts.

“Everything is taken care of, Jughead,” Veronica says. “Enjoy the party.”

“Okay,” Jughead sighs.

“Did I tell you I love your suit? Because I do,” Veronica says, tugging at the lapel. Jughead smiles weakly. Veronica had made the dress code formal. Jughead, of course, is still wearing his beanie, but he’s wearing his suit too. 

“Thanks,” Jughead says.

Some new people arrive, and Veronica flits away to say hello. Jughead looks up from where he’s standing. Archie is talking to Reggie, but he’s staring at Jughead.

Jughead turns and heads up the stairs. Pop’s is open. The sun has set, and the fluorescent lights around on the windows of the diner cast the room in a pinkish glow. Jughead has always felt at home here. There’s a few people in here. Most of them are getting ready to leave, going to whatever they have lined up for their New Year’s Eve plans. Jughead takes a seat at one of the diner stools. 

“Hi, Jughead,” Pop says, coming over. “Your usual?”

“Please.”

Pop writes the order down on a ticket, running it back to the kitchen. Pop returns a few minutes later with a shake. 

“I see you’re here for Veronica’s party,” Pop says. 

“Yeah, well, I promised her I’d come. So here I am,” Jughead says. 

“Something bothering you?”

Jughead grimaces, trying to find words to explain what’s happening without actually explaining what’s happening. It’s not like he can really say  _ I kissed my best friend on the night he broke up with his girlfriend, and now we’re at the same party and I’m trying to avoid him but I know I can’t all night.  _

“Nothing that a burger can’t help,” Jughead says, smiling weakly. Pop smiles back, and Jughead breathes a sigh of relief. 

The door to Pop’s swings open behind him, and Jughead turns his head. Betty walks in, clad in a periwinkle dress, and Jughead turns his head back. It doesn’t stop Betty from taking a seat next to him at the counter. 

“Jughead, I think we should talk,” Betty says.

“Didn’t we already talk?” Jughead says. 

“Please,” Betty says. And Jughead knows she’s being serious.

* * *

She saw the whole thing.

Jughead’s dumb ass forgot that Betty and Archie’s room faced each other, and she could see everything when Archie had his curtains open. Which he did that night. Betty watched as Jughead snuck into the window. She watched them talk. And just as she decided she was going to go to bed, she saw them kiss, several times. And then she saw Jughead run.

She confronted him about it the next day. And Jughead felt he had no choice but to confirm what she already knew, that he was in love with Archie, and had been since before they started dating. Jughead had never been more hurt than when Archie had cancelled their road trip. Jughead was planning to confess his love then. But it never happened. And then he was dating Veronica, and Jughead was dating Betty, and that was that. Until it wasn’t.

Betty, understandably, said she was done.

Jughead said he was done too. 

* * *

“You’re up here moping around by yourself on New Year’s Eve,” Betty says. Pop slides a plate over to him. His burger’s ready. Jughead takes a large bite; partially so he doesn’t have to answer, but also because he’s hungry. Betty waits patiently as he chews and swallows.

“I’m not alone. I have Pop,” he says.

“Finish your burger and go on,” Pop says. 

Jughead takes another bite of his burger.

“Have you even talked to Archie?” Betty asks.

“No,” Jughead answers.

“What’s stopping you?”

“I shouldn’t have done it in the first place, Betty.”

“Come on. Just talk to him. Just because we’re not together doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to be happy,” Betty says.

Jughead doesn’t say anything.

“Finish your burger and come downstairs,” Betty says. She stands up and leaves. 

Jughead finishes his food and pays Pop. And then he heads back downstairs. But it’s not because he wants too.

* * *

Veronica makes it easy to stay.

She has actual alcohol, not just mocktails, and Jughead helps himself to a few drinks. He spreads them out over a few hours (because he’s not a monster).

There’s lots of games. Jughead ends up going through several rounds of Cards Against Humanity. He comes in last place in every round, but he still finds it fun. He sees the occasional looks of disapproval from Betty and Veronica, because they’re not afraid.      

At about 11:45, Cheryl wins her second game of the night. She cuts them off then, not wanting to start another round. Jughead helps himself to another small drink, and then wanders around, looking for someone to talk to, when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns, finding himself face-to-face with Archie. 

“You didn’t think that you could run from me forever, did you?” Archie asks.

Jughead is silent. 

“I’m sorry,” Jughead says finally.

“For what? Not returning my calls or texts? For ignoring me this whole night?”

“No. For kissing you,” Jughead said.

“For kissing me? You regret kissing me?”

“I don’t regret the kiss but I regret how it happened. You were really upset, and I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that,” Jughead says. “I wish it had been— you know what? Never mind.”

“No. Finish your sentence.”

“No.”

“Goddamn it, Jughead. After ignoring me for so long, you owe me an explanation. Don’t you think?”

Jughead sighs, knowing that he has lost the battle. 

“I’ve loved you for a while,” Jughead says, laughing slightly. “I just silently kept hoping that maybe you would feel the same way too one day. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you when you were upset. And I shouldn’t have left so suddenly. I’m sorry, Archie.”

“It’s okay, Jughead.

“No, it’s not.”

“I’m just glad you’re here now.”

Jughead looks up into Archie’s hazel eyes, and he feels his heart skip a beat. 

That’s when they hear it, right behind them. 

_ 10... _

_ 9... _

_ 8... _

_ 7… _

“Come here,” Archie says, reaching for Jughead’s chin. Jughead doesn’t fight it. He just leans in, and closes his eyes. 

_ 5… _

_ 4… _

_ 3… _

_ 2… _

_ 1… _

As the party-goers shout “Happy New Year!”, Jughead’s lips meet Archie’s. He kisses Archie with everything he’s got. 

Finally, they break apart, and Archie grabs Jughead’s hands. Jughead can’t help but smile.

“Happy new year, Jug,” Archie says.

“It’s going to be a good one now,” Jughead says. And then they kiss again. 


End file.
